Chilmark

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The school bell chimed last Tuesday morning with the doors wide open to greet returning students and a lovely bunch of new little faces. Mary Ambulos, our new school secretary, was there, smiling from ear to ear, greeting each child by name and asking how their summer had been. She is the new shining light at the Chilmark School, and we are lucky to have her.

Just an aside, Mary shouts out a request for any pictures of the school, both old and new, for a photo album. You can contact her at 508-645-2562 during school hours for details. What a fun fall project.

Brooks is now in second grade and loved his first day in Jack and Cici’s classroom. His desk is next to third-grader Thea Keene’s and right in front of Jack’s awesome white board. Jack’s classroom has all the cool high-tech stuff. After school, we stayed on the playground almost until dinnertime, playing and chatting with those who went in opposite directions for the two months of summer vacation. We bumped into Hunter Broderick with his mom, Stacia. Hunter-man will be attending Vineyard Montessori School a few days a week, where he certainly will learn a lot.

Unfortunately, that is about where my week in the public ended. Brooks — long story short — has been sick since then with pneumonia. I have not been social, engaging, or the least bit visible in the public eye. I have minimal news to share as this week has been all about getting my seven-year-old healthy again.

Lizzy Bradley, the school music teacher and reading specialist has taken on yet another role. She finds herself in the position of school-garden coordinator which is a job that will provide her with a lot of growth potential (her joke, not mine).

Ebba shared some library trivia with me the other day, and I failed to share it with you last week. The Chilmark library set a record on August 23 when 820 items were checked out in a seven-hour period. Thanks to the rainy day, the library had the most traffic they have seen in a long time.

Kristin Maloney would like to extend a big thank you to all of the local businesses for supporting the Chilmark Library Summer Reading Program. Nearly 200 children signed up for the summer-long program, which entails reading for rewards. Businesses that participated were: Menemsha Market, Menemsha Texaco, The Bite, The Galley, Chilmark Chocolates, and the Chilmark Store.

This past Tuesday marked the conclusion of lobster rolls at the Chilmark Church. Appreciation and gratitude must be extended not only to the lobster roll ladies but also to the patrons. Lobster rolls would not have happened if it were not for the dedication of Judy Mayhew. She was certainly, again, the key facilitator of the weekly church fundraiser. Big thanks also go out to Bette Carroll, Kathie Carroll, Emily Broderick, Judy Worthington, Kim Cottrill, Ted Mayhew, Betsy Cornwall, Betty Savage, and so many more.

Church services continue Sunday mornings at 9 and, as always, everyone is welcome. Kim Cottrill continues to facilitate Sunday School for all ages. The curriculum is entitled “One Room Sunday School.” With the assistance of Kathie and Emily, Kim edits heavily and plans hands-on activities for even the youngest of students.

It’s not happening here but a noteworthy collection of phenomenal artistic talent will be on display at the Madden Museum of Art in Denver, Colo. Anthony Benton Gude’s work will be shown alongside his grandfather’s. The exhibit of Anthony and Thomas Hart Benton opened on September 9 and will be up until December 31. Anthony was here this summer and had the pleasure of displaying his work at the Old Sculpin Gallery.

Welcome back from a weekend away to the Taylor family. Imogen, Ben, Kerry, and Stephen travelled to the Big Apple where they all took in the Addams Family musical. Ben and Stephen had some guy time at a Giants game while Immy and Kerry got in some quality retail therapy.

The Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living is looking for new board members to represent Chilmark. Board meetings are the second Thursday of each month at 8 am at the Tisbury Senior Center. Give them a call if you are interested, or hit up June Manning for the insider scoop.

Happy birthdays go out to Thomas Bena, the movie guy; Lenny Clarke, the funny guy; Harman Stinson, the old friend; Kim Klaren, the banker; and Mike Holtham, the scrumdiddlyumptious chef.

Bon Voyage to the 4/5 class who set sail aboard the Alabama and are scheduled to return to port on Saturday.